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New grad youngest member of Schaumburg library board

At a time when most high school seniors are eagerly anticipating graduation, 18-year-old Schaumburg High School senior Hannah Hyman already was getting the feel of being the newest and youngest member of the Schaumburg Township District Library Board.

Hyman was sworn in May 15 to a four-year term after being one of four victorious candidates who ran for five spots on the board. A four-year member of the Schaumburg High School debate team with leadership roles for the last three years, Hyman said she's always been interested in politics and first considered running for the school board.

"Then I heard about the library board and thought, 'Wow, that's something that I would really like to be a part of,'" Hyman said. "I decided that I would run because I've always gone to the library and its always been important to me. I wanted to give back to the community and help the library for helping me."

Hyman faced a challenge right from the start, however. Election rules prohibit candidates who are under 18, so she had to wait until her birthday, Dec. 10, to start gathering the signatures needed to get on the ballot, which were due two days later on Dec. 12.

"I got a bunch of my friends and family members who were over 18 and for two days we really hit doors pretty hard to get those signatures. I believe we needed 50 to get on the ballot but ended up getting just under 150," Hyman said.

Hyman said she and her family were incredibly excited on Election Night and now that she has won, she is eager to increase library services for high school students.

"A lot of the reason that I ran is that I feel as a young person I can provide a different point of view to the library board," Hyman said. "One of the main issues that I ran on is to try and increase the services available to high school students who are working on their college applications, test prep and things of that nature. The library has some programs, but I think in a lot of cases they can be expanded and we can get the word out better than we have because a lot of people don't know what's available."

Incidentally, when it came to her own college applications, Hyman said she limited them to nearby schools in case she was elected to the library board. She will attend DePaul University honors program for political science and is considering minoring in history or philosophy.

"I'm definitely going to be able to make all of the meetings and balance all of the college course work as well," Hyman said.

Hyman said would like to go to law school and then work for a nonprofit on global women's rights issues, ideally with the American Civil Liberties Union. She said she didn't know if election to the library board will prove a precursor to a career in politics.

"Right now, my main priority is getting my degree, serving the library and I hope to go to law school eventually. "I'm not sure if I'll run for anything in the future, but it's not something that I've completely ruled out."

Spoken like a seasoned political veteran.

  Hannah Hyman, 18, is the youngest member of the Schaumburg Township Library Board. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Hannah Hyman, 18, is the youngest member of the Schaumburg Township Library Board. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
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